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News About Tech, Money and InnovationFri, 09 Dec 2016 15:22:57 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.178053529Copyright 2016, VentureBeatVentureBeathttp://vbstatic.co/brand/img/logos/VB_Extended_Logo_40H.pnghttp://venturebeat.com
25040Venturebeat.comSilicon Valley gets ready to meet its newest and most important customer: President Donald Trumphttp://venturebeat.com/2016/12/07/silicon-valley-gets-ready-to-meet-its-newest-and-most-important-customer-president-donald-trump/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/12/07/silicon-valley-gets-ready-to-meet-its-newest-and-most-important-customer-president-donald-trump/#respondWed, 07 Dec 2016 11:35:28 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2125519With President-elect Donald Trump inviting tech leaders to a meeting next week, no doubt many employees at Silicon Valley companies are hoping their CEO will decline the invitation, given the region’s near unanimous opposition to Trump’s campaign. But that is wishful thinking. The election is done, and now it is time for many of these […]
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With President-elect Donald Trump inviting tech leaders to a meeting next week, no doubt many employees at Silicon Valley companies are hoping their CEO will decline the invitation, given the region’s near unanimous opposition to Trump’s campaign.

But that is wishful thinking. The election is done, and now it is time for many of these tech companies to bend the knee for a simple, practical reason: The federal government is one of the largest IT customers in the world. And The Donald is now calling the shots on budget spending that could significantly impact the fortunes of many of these companies.

In a scoop yesterday by USA Today’s Jessica Guynn and Jon Swartz, we learned that the Trump transition team has invited tech leaders to Trump Tower to kiss his ring for a tech summit on Dec. 14. The story noted that Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins and Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz would attend, while Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, would not.

Whatever their personal feelings, Catz and Robbins have too much at stake to say no.

Indeed, according to an analysis of federal IT spending for 2015, Hewlett Packard (pre-split) was the federal government’s largest IT enterprise vendor, with $7.2 billion in sales. Even though Whitman, a Republican who supported Hillary Clinton, is skipping next week, it’s still pretty surprising she said no, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she reconsiders. We’ll see.

IBM is second on that list of IT enterprise vendors, at $4.8 billion. So, again, no surprise that IBM CEO Ginni Rometty wrote an open letter to Trump trying to appeal to whatever better angels he may have. And landing a spot on his Business Roundtable is a coup for her from a business perspective. But her moves have caused some dissent among IBM employees — including one who publicly criticized Rometty and quit — and show the fine line many of these CEOs are going to have to walk.

Cisco is the federal government’s sixth-largest IT enterprise contractor, at $2.3 billion in sales. Microsoft is 10th, at $1.04 billion, followed by Intel at $868 million. Oracle doesn’t crack the top 25, but government procurement records indicate Oracle is the federal government’s 55th-largest contractor in the “defense information” category, with $20,012,539 in contracts for 2015, and there are likely many others.

Of course, this is why many of the companies were moderately cheered earlier this year when President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget proposal called for an increase on IT spending, to just under $90 billion. That includes more than $19 billion on cybersecurity-related efforts.

Some of these companies have been squeezed in recent years, as federal agencies moved to embrace more open-source software and cloud-based systems under Obama. These saved taxpayers money but kept overall IT spending pretty flat. Sitting across from businessman Trump means an opportunity to talk policy, sure, but it’s also the first step in pitching and selling to a new customer. While Trump didn’t talk much about tech in his campaign, he did say “the cyber” would be important in his administration, so this seems like an opportunity to encourage even more spending.

Of course, in the policy realm, Silicon Valley has a ton at risk with the new president. His recent comments on trade and China are likely causing some sweating around corporate offices in the Bay Area. It sends alarms to any hardware company — like Apple, for instance — whose entire business model and logistics have been built over the past decade on the promise of low-cost Chinese labor, stable currency exchange, and open trade. If Trump truly strikes a blow against any of those things, hardware makers are going to suffer.

On the flip side, lower taxes always make corporate chiefs do a happy dance. And with tech companies stashing billions of dollars overseas to avoid U.S. taxes, a repatriation holiday, or even a massive tax cut, would let them bring a chunk of that money back.

And there’s no doubt some hope to wield influence in shaping policy. The problem with Trump from the tech industry’s perspective is not so much his positions on tech, but his almost complete lack of a clear position. In a recent analysis published by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, the organization found:

During the campaign, President-elect Trump largely focused on issues other than technology and innovation policy. And when he spoke about the tech industry, his comments occasionally were critical. In general, there were few articulated policy positions, especially outside of the tax and trade area.

In bullet points listing Trump’s stance on many key issues, lots are marked “unclear” or “no position.” The tech industry will likely be eager to help fill in those blanks.

Of course, the other drama to watch will be Trump’s filling of key tech positions in his administration. Obama elevated the roles of the federal CIO and CTO to emphasize his commitment to tech’s role in the federal government. Interestingly, current U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith have urged tech workers in government to stick around and keep working for a Trump administration. And both have hinted that they would be “open” to the idea of continuing to serve under Trump in those roles. At the same time, there are rumors that Trump may drastically reorganize the White House administration, and possibly not even fill the CTO and CIO jobs.

There have also been some rumors that Zenefits CEO David Sacks, who recently announced he would soon step down, is considering a job in the Trump administration. And Google, in particular, has been adept at wielding subtle influence by having its employees take key U.S. government tech policy and operations roles. We’ll have to see if that can continue under a Trump administration.

In all of these cases, Silicon Valley leaders are going to have to make some fairly practical decisions about how to move forward. Simply ignoring Trump and refusing to engage with him, no matter how distasteful his politics may be, isn’t likely an option for most.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/12/07/silicon-valley-gets-ready-to-meet-its-newest-and-most-important-customer-president-donald-trump/feed/02125519Silicon Valley gets ready to meet its newest and most important customer: President Donald Trump7 takeaways from the White House report on AIhttp://venturebeat.com/2016/11/05/7-takeaways-from-the-white-house-report-on-ai/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/05/7-takeaways-from-the-white-house-report-on-ai/#respondSun, 06 Nov 2016 05:24:24 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2100454GUEST: The White House released a much-anticipated document entitled “Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence.” Sent from the Office of the President and the National Science and Technology Council Committee on Technology (or NSTC), the report is 58 pages of research, documentation, and recommendations on how the United States government plans to respond to artificial intelligence […]
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GUEST:

The White House released a much-anticipated document entitled “Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence.” Sent from the Office of the President and the National Science and Technology Council Committee on Technology (or NSTC), the report is 58 pages of research, documentation, and recommendations on how the United States government plans to respond to artificial intelligence (AI) moving forward.

The report was developed by the NSTC’s Subcommittee on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, “which was chartered in May 2016 to foster interagency coordination, to provide technical and policy advice on topics related to AI, and to monitor the development of AI technologies across industry, the research community, and the Federal Government,” according to the report.

The NSTC hosted five public workshops, as well as putting out a public Request for Information. The information drawn from those six sources informed the eventual recommendations of the committee. As it says in the report, there’s an “attempt to reach General AI by expanding Narrow AI solutions [that] have made little headway over many decades of research.”

The 23 official recommendations can be boiled down into seven broad mandates, which serve as a good guide for anyone in the field. These seven declarations will have a noticeable impact on the future of technology in the U.S., and everyone in the industry should be familiar with them, in order to take best advantage of the new opportunities they will open (and the doors they may close).

1. AI should be used for public good

AI has already begun providing major dividends to the public in fields such as healthcare, transportation, criminal justice, and the economy.

One concrete example is AI-enabled traffic management, which can reduce wait times and unnecessary carbon emissions by as much as 25 percent. In animal welfare and research circles, animal migration tracking is being improved by analyzing photographs that tourists post to social media. In the future, we hope to see vast improvement in the criminal justice system, including in the areas of crime reporting and bail sentencing.

So what are the concrete steps we need to take, moving forward? The government recommends that both private and public institutes invest in research to see how their specific business or industry would benefit from AI. There are also plans to create an open-source AI training database to ensure everyone has access to the technology necessary to embark on this new phase.

2. Government should embrace AI

AI generally makes things faster and more efficient, and every agency should be on board. DARPA has an educational system to create a digital tutor for Navy recruits, and the recommendation is for that tutor to be adapted for every agency.

In tandem with this proposal, the government has announced more federal support for AI research. The private sector will be the main engine, but government needs to support both underfunded basic research and the kinds of long-term research in which the private sector is notoriously uninterested.

3. Automated cars and unmanned aircraft need regulation

New regulation is needed for two reasons: to protect the public and to ensure fairness in economic competition.

The cases of automated vehicles (such as self-driving cars) and unmanned aircraft (drones) are prime examples of areas that require immediate regulations. The Safety Standards that exist for automobiles need to be updated to include their automated cousins, and the wording of regional and federal laws needs to change to allow for new permutations. The U.S. government should also invest in developing and implementing an advanced and automated air traffic management system.

Creating appropriate regulations means finding senior people in the industry to shape and create those new laws. The government will work to develop a federal workforce with diverse perspectives in order to ensure fairness.

4. No child left behind

Most people have already heard Obama’s speech about empowering the next generation. This recommendation states that all American students, from kindergarten through high school, will — as the report says — “learn computer science and be equipped with the computational thinking skills they need in a technology-driven world.”

America needs to build and sustain a researcher workforce, including computer scientists, statisticians, database and software programmers, curators, librarians, and archivists with specialization in data science.

It isn’t only about teaching AI, however; it’s also about teaching safe AI. To that end, schools and universities will need to include technology-focused ethics and related topics in security, privacy, and safety as an integral part of curricula on AI, machine learning, computer science, and data science.

5. Use AI to supplement, not supplant, human workers

“A 2015 study of robots in 17 countries found that they added an estimated 0.4 percent to those countries’ annual GDP growth between 1993 and 2007,” according to the report. However, there is also the threat that AI will replace the workforce. Generally speaking, automation threatens lower-wage jobs and could potentially increase the wage gap. While the report does not yet have a suggestion for how to fix this problem, its authors do firmly declare that a solution needs to be found, and the recommendation is to study the problem in earnest and search for its solution.

That said, there is ample evidence that AI is used to its best effect when it works in tandem with human workers, rather than by replacing them. In one recent study, when trying to determine whether lymph node cells contained cancer, “an AI-based approach had a 7.5 percent error rate, where a human pathologist had a 3.5 percent error rate; a combined approach, using both AI and human input, lowered the error rate to 0.5 percent,” according to the report. It seems we are stronger together.

6. Eliminate bias from data, or don’t use it at all

The use of data needs to be combined with justice, fairness, and accountability. Artificial assistants are trained in a closed world, but then they are moved to an open world, and that change needs to be anticipated and planned for.

Take, for instance, the criminal justice system, where machine learning can help make huge strides for good. “The biggest concerns with Big Data are the lack of data, and the lack of quality data,” according to the report. If data is incomplete or biased, AI can actually exacerbate problems, rather than fixing them. No one wants a machine deciding if they’re a flight risk if it doesn’t have the information to make an informed decision.

Another area where bias can be a huge problem is in something like job application screening. In the U.K., it is illegal to deny someone a job based on a decision made by a computer; thinking in the U.S. is that the computer had better know what it’s about.

7. Think safe, think global

One of the most important conclusions in the document is that long-term concerns about super-intelligent general AI should have little impact on current policy.

The recommendation is about allowing trade secrets without allowing secrecy. The report suggests that if competition drives commercial labs toward increased secrecy, it may become more difficult to monitor progress and ensure ethical standards are being met. To that end, the authors suggest defining milestones and logging whether companies have surpassed them as a way to keep an eye on progress without divulging sensitive information.

The government also outlines a plan to monitor other countries. The idea is to develop a government-wide strategy on international engagement related to AI and to develop a list of AI-topical areas that need international engagement and monitoring. Japan, Korea, Germany, Poland, the U.K., and Italy are specifically listed as countries to partner with to this end.

The most important things companies need to be aware of are potential financing buckets for organizations that support ethics in AI and AI training, the creation of public milestones with which companies will no doubt need to engage, and new accountability standards for the creators of AI. Overall, the report has a hopeful tone, and the future seems clear. AI is here to stay, and the United States is embracing it with enthusiasm, tempered only mildly with caution.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/05/7-takeaways-from-the-white-house-report-on-ai/feed/021004547 takeaways from the White House report on AI\n U.S. government launches Code.gov to showcase its open-source softwarehttp://venturebeat.com/2016/11/03/u-s-government-launches-code-gov-to-showcase-its-open-source-software/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/03/u-s-government-launches-code-gov-to-showcase-its-open-source-software/#respondThu, 03 Nov 2016 23:00:04 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2099132The White House today is announcing the launch of Code.gov, a website that shows off U.S. government open-source projects and offers relevant resources for government agencies. By launching this site the White House is hoping to improve public access to the government’s software and encourage the reuse of software across government agencies. The launch comes […]
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The White House today is announcing the launch of Code.gov, a website that shows off U.S. government open-source projects and offers relevant resources for government agencies. By launching this site the White House is hoping to improve public access to the government’s software and encourage the reuse of software across government agencies.

The launch comes four months after the White House introduced the Federal Source Code policy, which specifically mandates that government agencies “make custom-developed code available for Government-wide reuse and make their code inventories discoverable” at Code.gov, with certain exceptions.

The new site already has almost 50 code repositories from more than 10 agencies, U.S. chief information officer Tony Scott wrote in a blog post.

“We’re excited about today’s launch, and envision Code.gov becoming yet another creative platform that gives citizens the ability to participate in making government services more effective, accessible, and transparent,” Scott wrote. “We also envision it becoming a useful resource for State and local governments and developers looking to tap into the Government’s code to build similar services, foster new connections with their users, and help us continue to realize the President’s vision for a 21st Century digital government.”

The White House recently open-sourced the code behind President Obama’s Facebook Messenger chatbot. Other existing open-source initiatives include Vets.gov and Data.gov. Yes, even the code for Code.gov is open source.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/03/u-s-government-launches-code-gov-to-showcase-its-open-source-software/feed/02099132U.S. government launches Code.gov to showcase its open-source softwareHere’s what the White House will do with its social media accounts after Obama leaveshttp://venturebeat.com/2016/10/31/heres-what-the-white-house-will-do-with-its-social-accounts-after-obama-leaves/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/31/heres-what-the-white-house-will-do-with-its-social-accounts-after-obama-leaves/#respondMon, 31 Oct 2016 21:34:10 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2095856As the 2016 election cycle draws to a close, the White House has begun turning its attention toward the transition of power. And for the 45th president of the United States, the process of getting acclimated to the White House will diverge a bit from the usual. President Barack Obama has been steadily updating our […]
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As the 2016 election cycle draws to a close, the White House has begun turning its attention toward the transition of power. And for the 45th president of the United States, the process of getting acclimated to the White House will diverge a bit from the usual.

President Barack Obama has been steadily updating our idea of what an administration should look like, and this effort extends to social media. So as January 20 inches closer, some may be wondering what his team will do with the presidential Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social accounts. The White House has heard you and has revealed how it will smartly pass along the digital presence of the most powerful office in the free world.

Peaceful digital transition

In a blog post, Deputy Chief Digital Officer Kori Schulman explained that, as part of the transition, all materials the White House has created will be preserved with the National Archives and Records Administration, including tweets, snaps, videos, photos, and everything that was produced online. But this data won’t be wiped from the internet — Schulman shared that whenever possible, the administration will seek to ensure that all the material will still be accessible where it was originally published. Her team is also working to ensure that existing digital assets can be repurposed by the next administration.

When either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump officially assumes the presidency, they’ll be given access to the @POTUS Twitter handle and its more than 11 million followers. All the tweets made under Obama will be removed, but will be accessible under the new handle @POTUS44. This same plan will be enacted for associated accounts, including @WhiteHouse, @FLOTUS, @PressSec, and @VP.

The White House’s Instagram and Facebook accounts will also be passed down to Obama’s successor, but without pre-populated content. That content will be archived and transitioned to new accounts, specifically to ObamaWhiteHouse, for both Instagram and Facebook. The official Facebook accounts for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with the Instagram accounts of First Lady Michelle Obama and Biden will be reassigned to new accounts with “44” affixed at the end of their respective handles.

And yes, the same will be done for all photos and videos shared on YouTube, Vimeo, Myspace, Flickr, and other online platforms where the White House has a presence.

Opening social data to the people

But since it’s the people’s house, the White House is opening up the data to the public, allowing anyone to download a zip file containing all of its social media content. It has begun inviting students, data engineers, artists, and researchers to submit creative ways to take advantage of this opportunity. There are several criteria that must be met before gaining access, however. First, each proposal must be an innovative way “to archive our social media account, and your proposal must be constructive in spirit.” Next, any produced product must be free and accessible to the general public. Lastly, projects have to be completed by mid-December.

Another significant tool developed under the Obama administration is the We the People petition website. The White House said that more than 12 million verified users have created more than 470,000 petitions. To ensure its continuation in some way, shape, or form, the team has open-sourced the product and will work with future administrations to try to keep it operational. In the meantime, all petitions and official White House responses will be archived with the National Archives.

The ‘digital president’

When Obama took office in 2008, he accelerated the move toward a more accessible office, and he was the first president to truly tap into social media and technology. From Twitter to Facebook, YouTube to Vimeo, Myspace, Snapchat, and even Facebook Messenger, the 44th president has taken pains to extend his message beyond traditional television and newspaper channels.

Whether these innovations continue in the White House after Obama’s term remains to be seen, as officials have repeatedly said that they’re still in the fourth quarter and are racing toward the end.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/31/heres-what-the-white-house-will-do-with-its-social-accounts-after-obama-leaves/feed/02095856Here’s what the White House will do with its social media accounts after Obama leavesWhite House names retired Air Force general as nation’s first cyber security chiefhttp://venturebeat.com/2016/09/10/white-house-names-retired-air-force-general-as-first-cyber-security-chief/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/09/10/white-house-names-retired-air-force-general-as-first-cyber-security-chief/#respondSat, 10 Sep 2016 08:56:50 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2051373(Reuters) – The White House on Thursday named a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general as the government’s first federal cyber security chief, a position announced eight months ago that is intended to improve defenses against hackers. Gregory Touhill’s job will be to protect government networks and critical infrastructure from cyberthreats as federal chief information […]
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(Reuters) – The White House on Thursday named a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general as the government’s first federal cyber security chief, a position announced eight months ago that is intended to improve defenses against hackers.

Gregory Touhill’s job will be to protect government networks and critical infrastructure from cyberthreats as federal chief information security officer, according to a statement.

The administration of President Barack Obama has made bolstering federal cyber security a top priority in his last year in office. The issue has gained more attention because of high-profile breaches in recent years of government and private sector computers.

U.S. intelligence officials suspect Russia was responsible for breaches of Democratic political organizations and state election systems to exert influence on the Nov. 8 presidential election. Russia has dismissed the allegations as absurd.

Obama announced the new position in February alongside a budget proposal to Congress asking for $19 billion for cyber security across the U.S. government. The job is a political appointment, meaning Obama’s successor can choose to replace Touhill after being sworn in next January.

Touhill is currently a deputy assistant secretary for cyber security and communications at the Department of Homeland Security.

He will begin his new role later this month, a source familiar with the matter said. Touhill’s responsibilities will include creating and implementing policy for best security practices across federal agencies and conducting periodic audits to test for weaknesses, according to the announcement.

Grant Schneider, who is the director of cyber security policy at the White House’s National Security Council, will be acting deputy to Touhill, according to the announcement.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/09/10/white-house-names-retired-air-force-general-as-first-cyber-security-chief/feed/02051373White House names retired Air Force general as nation’s first cyber security chiefPresident Obama reportedly to name retired Air Force general as first cybersecurity chiefhttp://venturebeat.com/2016/09/08/president-obama-reportedly-to-name-retired-air-force-general-as-first-cybersecurity-chief/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/09/08/president-obama-reportedly-to-name-retired-air-force-general-as-first-cybersecurity-chief/#respondThu, 08 Sep 2016 19:54:09 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2049976The Obama Administration will reportedly tap retired Air Force Brigadier General Gregory Touhill to become the U.S.’s first cybersecurity chief, in order to shore up the country’s defenses against hackers. It’s said that the announcement could come happen later today, and Touhill would assume his post later this month. According to Reuters, Touhill’s job will […]
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The Obama Administration will reportedly tap retired Air Force Brigadier General Gregory Touhill to become the U.S.’s first cybersecurity chief, in order to shore up the country’s defenses against hackers. It’s said that the announcement could come happen later today, and Touhill would assume his post later this month.

According to Reuters, Touhill’s job will be to protect the government’s networks and critical infrastructure from cyber attacks in his capacity as the chief information security officer (CISO). This would be a promotion for him, as previously he served as the deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications within the Department of Homeland Security.

The naming of a CISO comes near the end of President Obama’s second term and also in a time when the country is plagued by numerous cyberattacks, including perhaps most prominently the hacks against the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which U.S. intelligence agencies said they have “high confidence” that the Russian government was behind the attacks. Also, the government has seen its Office of Personnel Management department hacked, with more than 22 million records stolen. A Congressional report issued this week found that “rudimentary cyber security recommendations that could have mitigated or even prevented” the attack were not followed.

Obama has called cybersecurity “one of the most important challenges we face as a nation” and naming Touhill to the CISO position would be the latest effort he’s taken over the past 7 years, including passing the Cybersecurity Act of 2013 and implementing his Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), which involves establishing a commission to study vulnerabilities in the public and private sectors, modernizing the government’s infrastructure, supporting stronger security for online accounts, and spending $19 billion in investments to secure the nation. The cybersecurity chief is a core component of this plan.

“I am concerned about it, I don’t think we have it perfect,” Obama said at a news conference in July talking about cybersecurity. “We have to do better, we have to learn from mistakes. We know that we have had hackers in the White House.”

This December, the president is expected to receive a report from his cybersecurity commission on how to strengthen critical systems and ways to attract experts to work with the government.

While Touhill’s role is new, the Obama Administration has had people in similar capacities advising the president on these matters. “[The chief information security officer] is a key role that many private-sector companies have long implemented, and it’s a good practice for the federal government,” said Tony Scott, the U.S. Chief Information Officer.

Touhill is described on his LinkedIn profile as “one of the nation’s premier cybersecurity and information technology senior executives.” For more than 2 years, he’s been at the Department of Homeland Security, serving in a capacity similar to the one that he’ll reportedly soon have, leading more than 20 national cyber incident response actions, “ranging from the [Office of Personnel Management] data breach to major private sector cyber incidents.”

He served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 21 years until 2005 before working in technical positions with the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City, U.S. Transportation Command, and even running his own I.T. consultancy, Touhill Technology Management.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/09/08/president-obama-reportedly-to-name-retired-air-force-general-as-first-cybersecurity-chief/feed/02049976President Obama reportedly to name retired Air Force general as first cybersecurity chiefPayPal cofounder Max Levchin praises White House proposal to attract immigrant entrepreneurshttp://venturebeat.com/2016/08/26/paypal-cofounder-max-levchin-praises-white-house-proposal-to-attract-immigrant-entrepreneurs/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/26/paypal-cofounder-max-levchin-praises-white-house-proposal-to-attract-immigrant-entrepreneurs/#respondSat, 27 Aug 2016 01:44:49 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2039521(Reuters) – The Obama administration proposed a rule on Friday aimed at attracting thousands of immigrant entrepreneurs to start companies in the United States. The rule, proposed by the Department of Homeland Security, would ease the ability of startup founders to build companies if they have significant funding from U.S. investors. The administration hopes the […]
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(Reuters) – The Obama administration proposed a rule on Friday aimed at attracting thousands of immigrant entrepreneurs to start companies in the United States.

The rule, proposed by the Department of Homeland Security, would ease the ability of startup founders to build companies if they have significant funding from U.S. investors.

The administration hopes the rule will be completed before President Barack Obama’s term ends on Jan. 20.

The proposed rule is part of Obama’s commitment to “attracting the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs to start the next great companies here,” Tom Kalil, a technology policy adviser at the White House, told reporters in a call.

Kalil said immigrants have co-founded as many as one in four high-tech startups across the United States and more than half of all startups in Silicon Valley.

Immigration has been a crucial issue in the 2016 presidential campaign ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Republican candidate Donald Trump has vowed to toughen immigration policies, while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed creating an office of immigrant affairs to expand Obama’s efforts to help immigrants integrate better into the country.

Under the rule, DHS would issue temporary permission for entrepreneurs to live in the United States if they have at least 15 percent ownership in startup companies formed in the country within the past three years. The companies must have investment of at least $345,000 from qualified U.S. investors. The administration expects about 3,000 immigrants would apply for the temporary permission, known as parole.

Max Levchin, a co-founder of PayPal and other companies who was born in Ukraine, said the proposed rule is a “great, concrete step toward creating more jobs in America and more success stories.”

Many entrepreneurs are educated at prestigious U.S. universities, but find themselves unable to stay in the country because they lose visa lotteries or can’t afford to sponsor themselves through an existing investor visa program.

“We lose and will continue to lose talented, skilled, well educated scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs because they are simply not allowed to stay and work after we educated them to very high standards,” Levchin said. “It makes very little sense.”

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by James Dalgleish)

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/26/paypal-cofounder-max-levchin-praises-white-house-proposal-to-attract-immigrant-entrepreneurs/feed/02039521PayPal cofounder Max Levchin praises White House proposal to attract immigrant entrepreneursHow to build a better bot than President Obama’s in 15 minuteshttp://venturebeat.com/2016/08/17/how-to-build-a-better-bot-than-president-obamas-in-15-minutes/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/17/how-to-build-a-better-bot-than-president-obamas-in-15-minutes/#respondWed, 17 Aug 2016 21:10:02 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2032013GUEST: Last week the White House launched its first chatbot. The fact that the most powerful man on the planet is using a chatbot to receive messages has gotten a lot of people excited. But some in the press wanted to see more. In his VentureBeat article, John Brandon noted that while the White House bot […]
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GUEST:

Last week the White House launched its first chatbot. The fact that the most powerful man on the planet is using a chatbot to receive messages has gotten a lot of people excited.

But some in the press wanted to see more. In his VentureBeat article, John Brandon noted that while the White House bot might serve as a cool new way to contact the president, it misses many opportunities, like utilizing a sophisticated artificial intelligence for language recognition and providing people with additional info about the president.

We have to admit, as we read the headlines, our imagination at Chatfuel went wild. Our Chatfuel group chat was suddenly buzzing with ideas, ranging from useful (think citizen feedback, district issues, messaging local representatives) to fun and silly (creating a way for people to vote on which suit the president should wear to the next cabinet meeting, or to suggest how the Obama family’s Christmas tree should be decorated).

But in the end, the real question was: How long would it take to build a full-featured bot that’s worthy of the White House?

Going into building a chatbot worthy of a president requires planning ahead, as with any other bot. So we started with a small but useful feature set.

Our presidential bot needed to:

Allow users to reach out to the president in a dedicated form

List the latest news about the president

Give virtual tours of the White House

This example provides a nice chance to show readers how easy it can be to build your first bot.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/08/17/how-to-build-a-better-bot-than-president-obamas-in-15-minutes/feed/02032013How to build a better bot than President Obama’s in 15 minutesObama worried about State Department handling classified information after Clinton probehttp://venturebeat.com/2016/07/09/obama-worried-about-state-department-handling-classified-information-after-clinton-probe/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/07/09/obama-worried-about-state-department-handling-classified-information-after-clinton-probe/#respondSun, 10 Jul 2016 05:24:20 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=2000132WARSAW (Reuters) — U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday he was concerned about how the State Department handles classified information but cast this as part of a government-wide challenge in the age of email, texts and smartphones. FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday recommended against prosecuting Hillary Clinton or her aides for their “extremely […]
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WARSAW (Reuters) — U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday he was concerned about how the State Department handles classified information but cast this as part of a government-wide challenge in the age of email, texts and smartphones.

FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday recommended against prosecuting Hillary Clinton or her aides for their “extremely careless” handling of classified information on the private email server that she used as secretary of state.

Comey said the FBI had found evidence that “the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information that’s found elsewhere in the U.S. government.”

“The advent of email and texts and smart phones is just generating enormous amounts of data,” Obama added, saying that this, in turn was “putting enormous pressure on the department to sort through it, classify it properly.”

Obama said that if one classified too much, the benefits of the information evaporated because it took too long to process. “It reflects a larger problem in government,” he added. Clinton has said her use of a private email server was a mistake.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/07/09/obama-worried-about-state-department-handling-classified-information-after-clinton-probe/feed/02000132Obama worried about State Department handling classified information after Clinton probeU.S. chief data scientist: Entrepreneurs should do a ‘tour of duty’ in governmenthttp://venturebeat.com/2016/05/04/u-s-chief-data-scientist-entrepreneurs-should-do-a-tour-of-duty-in-government/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/04/u-s-chief-data-scientist-entrepreneurs-should-do-a-tour-of-duty-in-government/#respondWed, 04 May 2016 23:14:05 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1942387There’s no question that the U.S. government has collected an incredible amount of data. Whether for things like the census, housing, agriculture, transportation, or health care, federal agencies have accumulated data from around the country. But how can the government innovate, if everything remains siloed? In the past seven years, the White House has made […]
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There’s no question that the U.S. government has collected an incredible amount of data. Whether for things like the census, housing, agriculture, transportation, or health care, federal agencies have accumulated data from around the country. But how can the government innovate, if everything remains siloed?

In the past seven years, the White House has made efforts to leverage more technology at the federal level. It has tapped Aneesh Chopra and Todd Park, and, most recently, appointed former Googler Megan Smith to the post of U.S. chief technology officer, a position first created by President Obama. It has brought on board Twitter veteran Jason Goldman to assist the administration with digital outreach. And it has recruited renowned data scientist DJ Patil as the country’s inaugural chief data scientist.

“President Obama has been unique,” Patil told VentureBeat in an interview during his visit to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he still maintains a residence. “He’s recognized the sea change with data and made it a cornerstone of his administration. With a data-driven government, you take the data that we use in services like weather forecasting, data submitted by citizens like with the census….and use it to make better and faster decisions.”

In the role of chief data scientist, Patil has been tasked with looking at the policies, rules, and laws that our government has in place in order to evaluate whether they’re hindering or enabling U.S. innovation. Smith once wrote, “Across our great nation, we’ve begun to see an acceleration of the power of data to deliver value.” On the one-year anniversary of Patil’s appointment, we spoke with him about how the Obama Administration views the tech industry and how it’s working to make our data more transparent as a way to spur innovation and move the country forward.

Opening data of the people to the people

“How unique is it, as a professor of constitutional law, to grasp what it means to have data and understand how transformative data is in this day of age,” Patil remarked, referencing Obama’s comprehension of the enormous stockpile of information the government has.

As part of the effort to put that data to better use, the president has removed an obstacle that prevented the sharing of data not only between agencies, but also with the public. In 2013, Obama signed an executive order mandating that government information must now be “open and machine-readable.” For decades, that data was, by default, shared in a PDF, making it difficult to take action on the data.

“How do we ensure that we are staying at the forefront as a country riding this wave [of data]?” Patil asked. “This world is about to change and the government needs to change.”

He cited a study by Harvard professors Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and Lawrence Katz, which used data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to explore the effects on children in high-poverty areas. Among their findings is that when a child is moved to a low poverty area while young, that child sees a 40 percent lift in their median income over life.

Patil also referenced the work that his team is doing with the Precision Medicine initiative, a research effort to change how the country improves health and treats disease — separate from the Affordable Care Act. He thinks that the use of data and the human genome can be used to find cures for diseases like cancer, and he said that this White House program is “pushing the whole ecosystem” forward into the “genetic era.”

And for all the examples he provided during our conversation, his message was quite clear: The U.S. has data and needs the public’s and even Silicon Valley’s help.

Bringing Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. together

While many know Patil as a member of Obama’s administration, he’s also an accomplished entrepreneur and an iconic data scientist within the technology industry. In fact, he and Jeff Hammerbacher coined the term “data scientist.” He led the data products and security teams at LinkedIn, was a data scientist in residence at Greylock, and served as vice president of product at RelateIQ, which was acquired by Salesforce in 2014 for $392 million.

But he believes there’s a myth that “Silicon Valley is coming to save [Washington] D.C.,” when, in fact, data scientists in the tech industry are coming from the federal government. In fact, Patil started out as an academic at the University of Maryland before working with the Department of Defense (DOD) doing threat anticipation and hunting down bio weapons. “I am forever grateful for that experience,” he said, “and when I had the opportunity to jump into Silicon Valley, those lessons were critical.”

And as the White House pushes to make data more transparent, Patil thinks that more entrepreneurs and tech companies should seize the opportunity to use this new-found data proliferation.

“What I would love to see is a model where people move back and forth more seamlessly, where people are able to do a tour of duty like we’re seeing here in Silicon Valley, spending a couple of years here, and then decide that they want to do something for the government, for your local city, for a community outside the industry,” he said, although Patil understands that the allure of Silicon Valley can be too much for entrepreneurs to pass up.

Patil believes that government work isn’t looked at as being sexy enough because the government hasn’t done a good enough job explaining its mission: “Over time, it’s gotten harder and harder for a technologist, product manager, designer to get into government.” This is one of the main reasons Obama created 18F, which is a digital services consultancy within the government that deploy tools companies can use to build products based on public data.

“These are the ways for people to come in and have the direct impact,” Patil explained.

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter once told Patil that there was something special about waking up every morning and thinking that we’re part of something bigger. And this is what keeps the chief data scientist going, understanding that it’s not about creating the next photo-sharing app or luxury valet service or even an Uber for X, Y, and Z.

It’s about “what’s important for your kids and your kids’ kids,” he said. “There is a quest for happiness out there….And when you’re worked on solving those problems…and come to Silicon Valley, you’re hurting because it’s hard to find a company with a strong mission. We’re going to see a shift where there’s a notion that mission and happiness are more valuable.”

Trust your government

And while it’s easy to say that the government wants more transparency, it’s also understandable that there may be some skepticism, especially from the technology industry. One need only look at the revelations coming from Edward Snowden, at periodic transparency reports released by companies, and even at the recent legal battle between the FBI and Apple over access to the iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino terrorists.

Patil sees Silicon Valley as thinking about protecting the American public from a one-dimensional point of view. He agrees with something Carter once said: “Security is like air: You only realize it when you don’t have it. There are a lot of countries in the world that don’t have security.”

“There is a really important dialogue happening around encryption, security, and cyber,” Patil explained. “The place and the way to make the best progress on this is through that model where people are coming in and out of government more easily, making government more porous. That’s how we make the best decision. The ability for companies that are out here and how they think about cyber security is because we’re dealing with an adversary that’s beating us up, and we get to see that. The government also sees a different side of the adversary and the more that we share of that, the better we get and the smarter we become.”

As it relates to encryption, he said “the president is very much for strong encryption. The policy is for strong encryption because it’s the most important path forward for cyber security. What he has also called for is saying that we are living in a world where we have to work collectively together…Technologists offer a very unique way to have the conversation.”

Above: President Barack Obama views science exhibits during the 2015 White House Science Fair celebrating student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competitions, in the Red Room, March 23, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Patil said not to worry about the data policies being undone by the next administration because they have seeped into the DNA of agencies and can’t be quickly undone. “The long arc of the government has shifted as a result of this president. Because of this, it doesn’t change easily. That only happens with presidential powers of focus,” he said.

He hasn’t thought much about what he’s going to do after he leaves the White House. However, he remains fascinated by all that has been accomplished over the course of Obama’s presidency, citing the launch of the Opportunity project, which uses open data to improve economic mobility for Americans, the White House science fair, a hackathon where New Orleans police chief Michael Harrison worked with a student to write his first line of code so he could access data about his own police department, the creation of a working group around the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence, and more.

He’s convinced that a data-driven government will not only improve the services it offers, but can help keep the country’s competitive edge, enhance national security, and develop the next generation of technology. Because these policy shifts take time, we won’t see the effects immediately. But Patil believes that as the government moves forward, so too does the nation.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/04/u-s-chief-data-scientist-entrepreneurs-should-do-a-tour-of-duty-in-government/feed/01942387U.S. chief data scientist: Entrepreneurs should do a ‘tour of duty’ in governmentObama: Don’t take an ‘absolutist view’ on national security vs. civil libertieshttp://venturebeat.com/2016/03/11/obama-dont-take-an-absolutist-view-on-national-security-vs-civil-liberties/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/03/11/obama-dont-take-an-absolutist-view-on-national-security-vs-civil-liberties/#respondFri, 11 Mar 2016 22:14:05 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1894058President Barack Obama believes that we need to strike a balance when it comes to protecting the United States from terrorists and criminals while ensuring people’s privacy. When asked about the issues around encryption and personal data raised by the government’s case against Apple, the 44th president said he believes that we shouldn’t take an […]
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President Barack Obama believes that we need to strike a balance when it comes to protecting the United States from terrorists and criminals while ensuring people’s privacy. When asked about the issues around encryption and personal data raised by the government’s case against Apple, the 44th president said he believes that we shouldn’t take an “absolutist view.”

Obama appeared at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas this week to ask for the American people and tech industry’s help in modernizing the federal government. But, of course, the Apple-FBI case is on everyone’s mind. When Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Evan Smith asked the president for his view on the case, although he couldn’t comment on specifics, Obama did say that he doesn’t believe the government should be able to get into people’s smartphones “willy-nilly.”

Striking a balance

The President acknowledged the necessity for strong law enforcement:

All of us value our privacy and this is a society that is built on a constitution, a Bill of Rights, and a healthy skepticism about overreaching government power. Before smartphones were invented, and to this day, if there is probable cause to think that you have abducted a child, are engaging in a terrorist plot, or if you’re guilty of a serious crime, law enforcement can appear at your doorstep, say they have a warrant to search your home, and rifle through your underwear to see if there’s any evidence of wrongdoing. And we agree on that because we recognize that with all our rights, there will be some constraints we’ll impose to ensure that we’re safe, secure, and living in a civilized society.

However, Obama also addressed the importance of protecting privacy in this increasingly connected mobile age. “Technology is evolving so rapidly that new questions are being asked. I am of the view that there are very real reasons why the government can’t willy-nilly get into people’s smartphones that are full of very personal information and data,” he said. Obama attributed an elevated distrust of the government to the work of whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Above: President Obama speaks at the South by Southwest Interactive conference on March 11, 2016 in Austin, Texas

Image Credit: Screenshot

He noted that the public’s desire for strong encryption also complicates things, and reiterated that the two values of privacy and security are both very important. “There has to be some concession to the need to get into the information [on smartphones],” Obama commented. “Folks on encryption side will argue that any key whatsoever, even if it’s directed at one device, will be used on every device. That is a technical question. I’m not a software engineer. It’s technically true, but it can be overstated. The question then becomes we as a society, set aside the specific case between FBI and Apple, the commercial interests, concerns about what the Chinese government could do, we’re going to have to make some decisions about how we balance these risks.” He said that the government has been working with the tech industry to resolve this complex issue.

The president admitted that he’s on the side of civil liberties. “I anguish over the decisions we make to keep the country safe. The dangers are real…I caution against taking an absolutist view on this. We make the concessions because we recognize it’s important. We have stops for drunk drivers, and it’s an intrusion, but we think it’s an important thing to do.”

Obama continued by saying that “We do have to make sure that, given the power of the Internet, [intrusions into privacy are] narrowed and constrained. I’m confident that [the problem] can be solved, but we’ll need the tech community to help us solve this stuff. What will happen is that, if people go to their respective corners and the tech community says that we either have strong encryption or it’ll be an Orwellian world, when something bad happens, the politics will swing.” He believes then that when a fix gets implemented, it will be sloppy, rushed, and won’t be thought through.

Changing the government

While many of the questions for the President were about the ongoing FBI and Apple debate, he also spoke at length about engaging the tech industry in his efforts to help improve people’s access to the government and make it more efficient.

“This gathering [at SXSW] brings together people that are at the cutting edges of these changes,” he said. “[Technology] offers enormous opportunities that are disruptive and unsettling. It empowers individuals to do things that they could never do before and also those that are extremely dangerous to spread their message. We’re trying to find ways in which our government can be a part of the positive change that is taking place and we want to help convene and catalyze folks in the private and nonprofit sectors to be a part of the broader community.”

He continued: “This group is prime to make a difference: How can we make government work better through tech, digital platforms, and so forth.” Obama talked about the government’s efforts to simply bureaucratic processes by bringing them into the digital age, citing the FAFSA (college loan) form, which was reduced two-thirds by digitizing it, putting it online, and making it more common sense. He also noted changes that have made it possible to apply for Social Security online.

“The most important office in a democracy is the office of the citizen,” the president declared. “Our politics isn’t working as well as it should.”

“We cannot solve the problems in government and in society unless we, the people, are paying attention,” he concluded. “In an age where people are getting information from digital platforms through the Internet, where people’s attention spans have shrunk, it’s critical for people who are shaping the environment [to think] about how to get citizens engaged. Doesn’t mean that you have to do it full time or run for office yourself. Whatever your field is, there’s a way for you to engage and participate to take this democracy back and change it in new ways.”

Calling on the tech industry

Today President Obama called on the tech community to step up and solve the big problems facing society. Civic technology is connecting citizens, technologists, and government to improve voter participation, drive better delivery of government services, and place citizens at the heart of better government. This collaboration can solve these problems, but for it to really deliver at scale we will need more levels of government providing greater access to data, more funders recognizing the potential of the sector and crowding in capital to accelerate growth and impact, and more people using these digital solutions to demand better public services and hold government to account.

The keynote address was held at the Long Center just a few blocks away from the Austin Convention Center, and attendees were chosen by a drawing and had to arrive hours before the President. Before addressing the crowd, Obama stopped by Torchy’s to order Democrat, Republican, and Independent tacos.

Obama’s visit to the SXSW conference makes him the first sitting president to visit this annual event. Last week, he used his weekly address to explain that he’s looking to the technology sector for help modernize the federal government. Obama’s message centered around “asking everyone from all walks of life working inside and outside of government to help make this democracy even stronger.”

This is certainly not the first time Obama has reached out to the technology industry. In addition to tapping multiple luminaries from Silicon Valley to work in his administration, Obama also established a tech hub in Silicon Valley, where the government plans to invest $171 million to work with Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, General Motors, and other companies on wearable devices.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/03/11/obama-dont-take-an-absolutist-view-on-national-security-vs-civil-liberties/feed/01894058Obama: Don’t take an ‘absolutist view’ on national security vs. civil libertiesPresident Obama unveils initiative to bring computer science to more schoolshttp://venturebeat.com/2016/01/30/president-obama-unveils-initiative-to-bring-computer-science-to-more-schools/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/30/president-obama-unveils-initiative-to-bring-computer-science-to-more-schools/#respondSat, 30 Jan 2016 11:00:15 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1869221President Barack Obama wants to make computer science more accessible in schools around the United States. Today he unveiled his Computer Science for All initiative, a program that’ll make investments in not only the state and local levels, but also with federal agencies. The goal is to train teachers so that they in turn can encourage […]
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President Barack Obama wants to make computer science more accessible in schools around the United States. Today he unveiled his Computer Science for All initiative, a program that’ll make investments in not only the state and local levels, but also with federal agencies. The goal is to train teachers so that they in turn can encourage their students to learn computer science.

At this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama said, “In the coming years, we should build on [the increase of high school graduation rates and boosted graduates in fields like engineering] by … offering every student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one.” His administration believes that now is the time to achieve this goal as a “new basic” skill necessary to achieve better paying jobs and moving up in society.

Making investments in teachers

President Obama’s initiative is the latest effort to improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) opportunities for the nation’s students. To accomplish this goal, the White House will provide $4 billion in funding to states and $10 million to districts as part of the upcoming budget proposal. The money would go toward training teachers, expanding access to resources and training material, and establishing partnerships.

Starting this year, the National Science Foundation said it will provide $120 million towards the Computer Science for All initiative over the next five years. The funds will be used to create research foundations aimed at developing and implementing sound academic computer science instructions in the schools. This includes “prototyping of instructional materials, scalable and sustainable professional development models, approaches to pre-service preparation for computer science teachers, and teacher resources at the K-12 grade levels.” It’s estimated that the investment will prepare up to 9,000 additional high school teachers in computer science by 2021.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is also committing to the cause, putting $17 million in Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards toward teacher training. The CNCS is a federal agency develops community solutions through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Social Innovation Fund programs. Over the next three years, it’ll work alongside the NSF and the STEM organization 100Kin10 to help thousands of teachers access the AmeriCorps Educational Awards and to help pay for teachers to be trained in computer science.

In addition, 100Kin10 has pledged to help its 200-plus partners prepare more than 10,000 teachers to teach computer science by 2021. The organization, consisting of companies like the New York Academy of Sciences, SRI International, the University of New Hampshire, and Teach For America, will launch a $1 million “coopetition” to find the best ways to prepare and support engineering in K-12 schools in New York state, with a focus on computer science.

Other federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, the National Math and Science Initiative, and the Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education and its 21st Century Community Learning Centers program are also involved in promoting computer science in schools.

The last piece of the program is to motivate leaders at all levels to participate in this process. President Obama wants to get governors, mayors, education leaders, CEOs, philanthropists, and others involved. Right now, the states of Delaware and Hawaii, along with more than 30 school districts in the United States, have committed to expanding computer science opportunities.

Private sector firms have also pledged contributions, such as Cartoon Network’s $30 million effort to get young people to learn creative coding; Apple’s expansion of coding opportunities for children and additional investments in training workshops; Facebook’s outreach to parents and students in communities underrepresented in the tech sector; Google’s additional investment of $23 million to support K-12 computer science education in order to reach 5 million more students; Microsoft’s campaign to encourage all 50 states to adopt Make CS Count policies and invest in computer science education; and Code.org’s goal to prepare 25,000 more teachers to teach computer science this year.

The growing need for STEM education

The White House said that last year there were over 600,000 available jobs in tech and by 2018, 51 percent of all STEM jobs are estimated to be in a computer science-related field. And the demand keeps growing — the federal government alone needs an additional 10,000 professionals to help manage its IT infrastructure and cybersecurity. “Providing access to [computer science] is a critical step for ensuring that our nation remains competitive in the global economy and strengthens its cybersecurity,” the Obama administration wrote.

The launch of the Computer Science for All initiative isn’t the first time President Obama has promoted this field. In his two terms, he has created the White House Science Fair; started the Educate to Innovate initiative; signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which increases the opportunities states and school districts have to offer computer science coursework; became the first sitting president to learn how to code; and hosted the inaugural White House Demo Day.

President Obama’s latest initiative doesn’t appear to be just talk. He has worked alongside multiple partners — on the federal, state, and local levels as well as in the private sector — to generate commitments to improving computer science opportunities for millions of students. It starts with making sure that the teachers are educated first before branching out to encourage everyone to be strong in STEM.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/30/president-obama-unveils-initiative-to-bring-computer-science-to-more-schools/feed/01869221President Obama unveils initiative to bring computer science to more schoolsPresident Obama proposes spending $4B over 10 years for self-driving carshttp://venturebeat.com/2016/01/14/president-obama-proposes-spending-4b-over-10-years-for-self-driving-cars/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/14/president-obama-proposes-spending-4b-over-10-years-for-self-driving-cars/#respondThu, 14 Jan 2016 19:53:19 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1863402The Obama Administration has announced that the United States Department of Transportation will be making it easier for companies to innovate around driverless vehicles. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said that the president proposed spending nearly $4 billion over the next decade to make autonomous cars safer. “We are on the cusp of a new era […]
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The Obama Administration has announced that the United States Department of Transportation will be making it easier for companies to innovate around driverless vehicles. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said that the president proposed spending nearly $4 billion over the next decade to make autonomous cars safer.

“We are on the cusp of a new era in automotive technology with enormous potential to save lives, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and transform mobility for the American people,” said Foxx in a statement. “Today’s actions and those we will pursue in the coming months will provide the foundation and the path forward for manufacturers, state officials, and consumers to use new technologies and achieve their full safety potential.”

President Obama’s 2017 fiscal year budget will provide money for pilot programs to test connected vehicles in “designated corridors” around the country, along with establishing a framework for connected and autonomous vehicles.

As part of the administration’s plans are milestones that state within six months, the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) will collaborate with those in the industry on standards to safely deploy and operate autonomous vehicles. The government agency has also been tasked to work with state partners, motor vehicle departments, and other stakeholders on a national policy to regulate the cars.

In addition, the government will provide safety exemptions for up to 2,500 vehicles for up to two years if the NHTSA determines that by doing so, it will “ease development of new safety features.”

Secretary Foxx’s announcement comes after a busy 2015 in which not only Tesla announced the beta release of its self-driving feature, but also other manufacturers were looking at creating autonomous vehicles. Tech companies like Google and Uber have made it no secret that they’re working on this effort as well, so it’s likely that when the government comes to work with Silicon Valley, these firms will play a prominent role in shaping the next generation of transportation.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/14/president-obama-proposes-spending-4b-over-10-years-for-self-driving-cars/feed/01863402President Obama proposes spending $4B over 10 years for self-driving carsAmazon to stream President Obama’s final State of the Union address on-demandhttp://venturebeat.com/2016/01/10/amazon-to-stream-president-obamas-final-state-of-the-union-address-on-demand/
http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/10/amazon-to-stream-president-obamas-final-state-of-the-union-address-on-demand/#respondSun, 10 Jan 2016 23:53:57 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1861531The White House has teamed up with Amazon to make President Obama’s final State of the Union (SOTU) address more accessible to the people. On Tuesday, not only will the President’s address will be available to stream on-demand through Amazon Video, but the speech will be made available across all devices, however people want to […]
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The White House has teamed up with Amazon to make President Obama’s final State of the Union (SOTU) address more accessible to the people. On Tuesday, not only will the President’s address will be available to stream on-demand through Amazon Video, but the speech will be made available across all devices, however people want to view it.

You can also watch the SOTU live on your Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick through Amazon Video.

For the technologically savvy Obama Administration, the addition of Amazon to the SOTU media mix shows that the executive branch is looking at the various ways people are consuming media. Not surprisingly, we’re no longer glued to our television sets, but are rather viewing content on our smartphones or on the Internet when we want it, not when it’s convenient for the government or the media companies.

“We’ll be reaching people where they are — and making it possible for them to engage, respond, and share the President’s speech themselves in new and different ways,” wrote Jason Goldman, the White House’s chief digital officer.

The SOTU is already livestreamed on the White House’s YouTube channel, and the Administration includes an “enhanced” address, meaning that you’re able to view slides that accompany Obama’s remarks.

Amazon will not only offer this year’s SOTU, but also Obama’s previous SOTUs on its Amazon Video platform. This partnership was created through the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy, which is run by Goldman. But Goldman’s team isn’t stopping with the online retailer in its efforts to make the SOTU more appealing to the American public. It’s working with Genius to ensure that all of Obama’s addresses are annotated.

Goldman is reassuring everyone that his team will continue to publish video excerpts of the speech in real time across Facebook and Twitter, while also posting live GIFs, Vine videos, and Instagram photos. “We believe that by ‘broadcasting’ the State of the Union across social media and streaming video platforms we are helping American citizens connect to the government that serves them,” he explained.

Updated on Monday at 10:37 a.m. PT:The post has been updated to reflect that President Obama’s State of the Union address will also be streamed on Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2016/01/10/amazon-to-stream-president-obamas-final-state-of-the-union-address-on-demand/feed/01861531Amazon to stream President Obama’s final State of the Union address on-demandNSA to shut down bulk phone surveillance program by Sundayhttp://venturebeat.com/2015/11/27/nsa-to-shut-down-bulk-phone-surveillance-program-by-sunday/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/27/nsa-to-shut-down-bulk-phone-surveillance-program-by-sunday/#respondFri, 27 Nov 2015 21:08:19 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1845154(By Dustin Volz, Reuters) – The U.S. National Security Agency will end its daily vacuuming of millions of Americans’ phone records by Sunday and replace the practice with more tightly targeted surveillance methods, the Obama administration said on Friday. As required by law, the NSA will end its wide-ranging surveillance program by 11:59 p.m. EST […]
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(By Dustin Volz, Reuters) – The U.S. National Security Agency will end its daily vacuuming of millions of Americans’ phone records by Sunday and replace the practice with more tightly targeted surveillance methods, the Obama administration said on Friday.

As required by law, the NSA will end its wide-ranging surveillance program by 11:59 p.m. EST Saturday (4:59 a.m. GMT Sunday) and expects to have the new, scaled-back system in place by then, the White House said.

The transition is a long-awaited victory for privacy advocates and tech companies wary of broad government surveillance at a time when national security concerns are heightened in the wake of the Paris attacks earlier this month.

It comes two and a half years after the controversial program was exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The move, mandated by a law passed six months ago, represents the greatest reduction of U.S. spying capabilities since they expanded dramatically after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Under the Freedom Act, the NSA and law enforcement agencies can no longer collect telephone calling records in bulk in an effort to sniff out suspicious activity. Such records, known as “metadata,” reveal which numbers Americans are calling and what time they place those calls, but not the content of the conversations.

Instead analysts must now get a court order to ask telecommunications companies like Verizon Communications to enable monitoring of call records of specific people or groups for up to six months.

“The act struck a reasonable compromise which allows us to continue to protect the country while implementing various reforms,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said.

Some Republican lawmakers want to preserve bulk collection until 2017, citing the Nov. 13 Paris attacks in which 130 people died. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killings.

But any new surveillance measures are unlikely to become law ahead of the November 2016 presidential elections.

A presidential review committee concluded the surveillance regime did not lead to a single clear counter terrorism breakthrough that could be directly attributed to the program.

Metadata collected by the NSA over the past five years will be preserved for “data integrity purposes” through February 29, the White House said.

After that the NSA will purge all of its historic records once pending litigation is resolved.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/27/nsa-to-shut-down-bulk-phone-surveillance-program-by-sunday/feed/01845154NSA to shut down bulk phone surveillance program by SundayObama backs away from law to access encrypted informationhttp://venturebeat.com/2015/10/11/obama-backs-away-from-law-to-access-encrypted-information/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/10/11/obama-backs-away-from-law-to-access-encrypted-information/#respondSun, 11 Oct 2015 23:23:46 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1819907(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s administration has backed away from seeking legislation that would give U.S. law enforcement agencies access to individuals’ encrypted messages, the White House said on Saturday. “We are actively engaged with private companies to ensure they understand the public safety and national security risks that result from malicious actors’ use of […]
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(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s administration has backed away from seeking legislation that would give U.S. law enforcement agencies access to individuals’ encrypted messages, the White House said on Saturday.

“We are actively engaged with private companies to ensure they understand the public safety and national security risks that result from malicious actors’ use of their encrypted products and services,” said White House spokesman Mark Stroh. “However, the administration is not seeking legislation at this time.”

Stroh reiterated comments by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who in testifying before a Senate committee on Thursday said the administration would not seek a bill allowing it to crack into encrypted information.

“Changing forms of Internet communication and the use of encryption are posing real challenges to the FBI’s ability to fulfill its public safety and national security missions,” Comey warned.

The tech industry, through groups representing the likes of Apple, Google, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft Corp, this year resisted any administration moves to weaken increasingly sophisticated encryption systems designed to protect consumers’ privacy.

The decision to back away from a law that would have companies turn over encrypted information to the federal government came from fears that the information would then be vulnerable to hackers, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Recently, hackers have breached federal computer systems for the Office of Personnel Management and the Internal Revenue Service and stolen personal data of federal employees and some U.S. taxpayers.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Jeff Mason; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2015/10/11/obama-backs-away-from-law-to-access-encrypted-information/feed/01819907Obama backs away from law to access encrypted informationWhite House hires former Facebooker Josh Miller as its first digital product directorhttp://venturebeat.com/2015/09/01/white-house-hires-facebooker-josh-miller-as-its-first-digital-product-director/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/01/white-house-hires-facebooker-josh-miller-as-its-first-digital-product-director/#respondTue, 01 Sep 2015 16:04:49 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1795056Days ago, Branch cofounder Josh Miller left Facebook with little explanation. Now we know what he’s doing next. The young founder revealed on his personal blog today that he’s immediately starting a new role as the White House’s first director of product. There, Miller explained that he hopes to expand the White House’s existing digital “portfolio,” which so far includes […]
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Days ago, Branch cofounder Josh Miller left Facebook with little explanation. Now we know what he’s doing next.

The young founder revealed on his personal blog today that he’s immediately starting a new role as the White House’s first director of product. There, Miller explained that he hopes to expand the White House’s existing digital “portfolio,” which so far includes its website and the “We the People” petition service.

Now, I’m moving on to something new while also returning to an old problem that means a lot to me. Today, I start in a new role at the White House serving as their first Director of Product. I’m as giddy, wide-eyed, and determined as ever. The White House has many digital products — from WhiteHouse.gov to the We the People Petition site. It’s a dream to be able to add to and improve this portfolio.

In order to do that, my plan is to lean on the product ideals that I learned during the last four years building Branch and working at Facebook. Wouldn’t it be great if your government had a conversation with you instead of just talking at you? The Obama Administration has already responded to 255 online petitions that had collectively gathered more than 11 million signatures. Imagine if talking to the government was as easy as talking to your friends on social networks? White House officials have started to regularly host Q&As on Twitter. These initiatives represent amazing progress, and there’s so much more good work to be done. I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned in the technology industry to the ideals of our democracy. As a mentor of mine likes to say, “It’s gonna be great!”

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/01/white-house-hires-facebooker-josh-miller-as-its-first-digital-product-director/feed/01795056White House hires former Facebooker Josh Miller as its first digital product directorWhite House uses OPM attack to promote Obama’s information-sharing initiativehttp://venturebeat.com/2015/06/05/white-house-uses-opm-attack-to-promote-obamas-information-sharing-initiative/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/05/white-house-uses-opm-attack-to-promote-obamas-information-sharing-initiative/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2015 20:57:18 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1743459The White House refused to address whether the attack may have originated from China.
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Today, during a White House press briefing, press secretary Josh Earnest delivered little information about the attack on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Instead he offered a few forward-looking statements about the importance of information sharing between the public and private sector as a way to prevent such attacks, echoing sentiments presented at President Obama’s cybersecurity summit earlier this year. Since hackers often use the same method to attack multiple victims, many believe that sharing data about breaches will help companies stem future attacks.

“The problem is, in order to facilitate that kind of information sharing between the private sector and the federal government, it requires an act of Congress,” said Earnest.

The OPM, which serves as a human resources department for civil servants, first acknowledged a breach of its system yesterday. As many as four million records containing personally identifiable information of current and former government employees may have been exfiltrated. The OPM says it will begin notifying affected parties starting on June 8.

Federal officials said that they believe the attack may have originated from China; however, the White House refused to address this information, saying only that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the matter and that they haven’t concluded who was responsible for the attack.

The OPM first learned of the attack in April when the agency was upgrading its cybersecurity efforts. It’s uncertain when the system was first infiltrated or for how many months attackers had access to OPM’s network.

“There is a general notion that government agencies unilaterally have their act together when it comes to protecting their information assets; this is fundamentally false,” said Jay Kaplan, former National Security Agency analyst and CEO of Synack.

“The fact that we have no idea how long these attackers have been inside of the OPM is one that should keep the Government up at night. Our investment in cyberwarfare defense needs to increase at the same rate in which hackers are stepping up their game. Otherwise, our data and people are at risk,” said Jesse McKenna, director of project management at cyberthreat researcher vArmour.

White House press secretary Earnest notes that while legislation allowing for information sharing between the public and private sector is necessary, the government will be taking other steps to strengthen its cybersecurity efforts.

Earnest said the government will be rolling out the next generation of its intrusion detection system, Einstein 3, earlier than planned.

That might be the thinking behind the White House’s appointment today of Ed Felten, a Princeton computer science professor, as its deputy U.S. chief technology officer.

“Ed joins a growing number of techies at the White House working to further President Obama’s vision to ensure policy decisions are informed by our best understanding of state-of-the-art technology and innovation, to quickly and efficiently deliver great services for the American people, and to broaden and deepen the American people’s engagement with their government,” the White House announcement noted.

At first glance, Felten seems like an unusually anti-establishment choice. Felten, while a widely respected researcher, has a long track record as a critic of copy protection, government spying, and electronic voting machines.

And in recent years, Felten has been criticizing the administration’s efforts to continue mass surveillance of U.S.-based telephone calls and to make sure that encryption technologies include “back doors” so the National Security Agency can get in.

Still, he’s not a total outsider. Felten earlier served as the first Chief Technologist at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and worked with the U.S. Department of Justice in its Antitrust Division. He has also published more than 100 academic papers, the announcement says.

Having an extremely well-credentialed critic like this on staff suggests that the administration is serious about incorporating knowledge — if not outright dissent — into its internal discussions on technology policy.

As deputy, Felten will report to former Google exec Megan Smith, the recently named White House CTO.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2015/05/11/white-house-appoints-nsa-criticizing-computer-scientist-ed-felten-to-key-post/feed/01726565White House appoints NSA-criticizing computer scientist Ed Felten to key postAirbnb CEO makes friends in the White House to help grow entrepreneurship in Cubahttp://venturebeat.com/2015/05/11/airbnb-ceo-makes-friends-in-the-white-house-to-help-grow-entrepreneurship-in-cuba/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/05/11/airbnb-ceo-makes-friends-in-the-white-house-to-help-grow-entrepreneurship-in-cuba/#respondMon, 11 May 2015 15:45:33 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1725840Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is working with the White House to help spread the platform's use in Cuba.
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Apartment rental platform, Airbnb has not been in the good graces of many cities in the U.S. lately. The company has faced opposition in major cities like New York, San Francisco, and Philadelphia for failing to tax its users as hoteliers and for supporting the proliferation of illegal hotels.

Despite these circumstances, today Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is being named a presidential ambassador for global entrepreneurship by the White House Department of Commerce. The program, run by longtime philanthropist Penny Pritzker, is aimed at inspiring a generation of entrepreneurs around the world. As part of his participation in this group, Chesky will be focused on spreading the good word of Airbnb to Cuba, where it recently launched.

Often called the “Island of the Disconnected,” Cuba suffers from bad Internet infrastructure. Only about five percent of inhabitants connect to the Web. Even so, Airbnb has been able to accrue over 1,000 listings in Cuba.

It seems ironic that the White House would be supportive of a company that has been the object of fury for so many hotel unions and cities in the states. But, in truth, Cuba may be a more hospitable environment for the platform than the U.S.

Cubans were already renting out rooms and homes directly to travelers well before Airbnb’s launch. Additionally, the government, which recently implemented broad taxation on various sales and services, is likely to go easy on room-renters in order to help the marketplace grow.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2015/05/11/airbnb-ceo-makes-friends-in-the-white-house-to-help-grow-entrepreneurship-in-cuba/feed/01725840Airbnb CEO makes friends in the White House to help grow entrepreneurship in CubaNo, you can’t shoot down drones over your househttp://venturebeat.com/2015/02/18/no-you-cant-shoot-down-drones-over-your-house/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/18/no-you-cant-shoot-down-drones-over-your-house/#respondWed, 18 Feb 2015 15:15:29 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1663523EXCLUSIVE: While you can't use your shotgun to keep drones from flying over your house, new legislation aims do it for you. But legal experts say the issues remain unresolved.
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EXCLUSIVE:

When Rand Paul went on CNN last month and warned anyone looking to fly a drone over his house that they should “beware” because “I’ve got a shotgun,” you could imagine lots of heads nodding in agreement.

Bravado aside, Paul — the Republican senator from Kentucky and a likely 2016 presidential candidate — was doubtless voicing the opinion of many who believe that drones flying overhead present a huge threat to their personal and business privacy.

But don’t load your shotgun just yet, Senator. Existing federal law and judicial rulings make it clear property owners do not enjoy unlimited privacy rights to their airspace. In fact, some believe that drones — quadcopters, octocopters, and other small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles — are already governed under the same laws that regulate aircraft like helicopters and airplanes.

Those laws, unsurprisingly, make it a crime to shoot down planes flying over your house.

“We don’t want people taking out their shotguns in urban areas and shooting things,” said Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat and state senator from California, adding that Rand Paul “needs to beware that he will be violating a lot of laws and ordinances about shooting a firearm in an urban area. That’s not acceptable behavior.”

Eric Cheng, the director of aerial imaging at DJI, one of the world’s largest consumer drone makers, agrees. “The law,” Cheng said, “is pretty clear about fining or imprisoning people who shoot at aircraft.”

And while Paul himself hasn’t yet shot at anyone’s drone, these opinions haven’t prevented all gun-on-drone hostilities. Last fall, a New Jersey man was arrested after allegedly shooting down a neighbor’s drone. According to CBS Philly, the man was charged with “possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and criminal mischief.”

But shotguns aside, do we even have a legal expectation of privacy when it comes to being photographed from above? Can you do anything at all to stop someone from sending their flying camera buzzing over your property?

Like jumping over a fence

Jackson thinks existing laws don’t do nearly enough. That’s why the Santa Barbara Democrat introduced a bill designed to specifically make it illegal to fly a drone without permission over someone’s property at an altitude of less than 400 feet. Airspace over 400 feet is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, she said.

Just this weekend, the FAA proposed new guidelines that aim to clarify the rules regulating non-recreational drone use. Under the proposal, drones weighing less than 55 pounds would be prohibited from flying over 500 feet off the ground, and more than 100 miles an hour. Some of the details, including the altitude limits, conflict with Jackson’s bill.

Although she acknowledged that it’s legal to take photographs or video from an airplane or a helicopter over private property, Jackson argues that the dynamics of drones are totally different and that long-standing FAA rules governing aircraft don’t address them.

“When you think about helicopters or airplanes,” Jackson told VentureBeat, “you’re talking 400 feet or more. When you’re talking about drones, you’re talking about eye level. That’s a different issue.”

Jackson is positioning her bill as an aerial replacement for rules that make it illegal to jump over someone’s fence without their permission. It “acknowledges the reality that drones are an interesting and new technology,” she said, “but can still cause the same kind of interference and violation of your physical space” as a fence jumper.

The drones that film Apple’s spaceship campus are a case in point. Although neither Apple nor the videographer who shot one published by AppleInsider last week responded to VentureBeat requests for comment, it’s virtually certain the technology giant didn’t give its permission.

If someone had jumped a fence onto Apple’s property, they would have been subject to arrest for trespassing. And although Jackson does believe drones represent an exciting new technology, “when they violate long-standing principles and people’s expectations of what can and cannot be done with them, it’s important to set guidelines.”

Subject to arrest?

Jon Resnick, DJI’s policy and marketing representative, thinks those guidelines have already been set, and doesn’t see the need for new legislation. Although drones can carry high-quality cameras when flying low over private property, Resnick argued that photographers on board airplanes or helicopters have long been able to take pictures or video with extremely powerful cameras that can outdo just about anything a drone can carry.

“The question is, do we single out this particular type of technology for some type of special treatment?” Resnick asked. “In my opinion, any kind of legislative or regulatory remedy that excludes [drones] from taking an image … is not any kind of enhancement or protection of privacy. That’s the strangulation of that particular technology. It still allows for [aerial pictures] to be taken. It’s just saying this one particular type of technology is not allowed to take it.”

To Gregory McNeal, a professor of law and public policy at Pepperdine University School of Law and a frequent author on drone policy issues, the sentiment behind Jackson’s proposed legislation is “innovative” and a “good start.” However, for technical reasons having to do with how Jackson and the FAA define navigable space that drones use, the bill wouldn’t be enforceable as written, McNeal wrote in Forbes.

Continue Reading ...]]>http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/18/no-you-cant-shoot-down-drones-over-your-house/feed/01663523No, you can’t shoot down drones over your houseWhite House proposal for sharing corporate security info seems full of holeshttp://venturebeat.com/2015/02/15/white-house-proposal-for-sharing-corporate-security-info-seems-full-of-holes/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/15/white-house-proposal-for-sharing-corporate-security-info-seems-full-of-holes/#respondSun, 15 Feb 2015 18:01:03 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1661901FEATURE: White House efforts to push companies to share sensitive security information intensified this week. But many in the industry disagree with the Obama Administration's approach to security.
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But quite a few of the industry’s most prominent leaders — including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and Google’s Larry Page — boycotted the event, highlighting the fact that many in the industry disagree with the Obama Administration’s approach to security.

One of the demands corporate leaders are making is that any information sharing has to coincide with liability protections. The White House has promised to deliver that protection, but the specifics — both in language proposed by The White House as well as in language from the Senate bill meant to start the process of codifying it into law — don’t come anywhere close to what companies want.

That may not be simply because the White House isn’t listening. Actually, there are significant pragmatic difficulties, especially in protecting companies that have actually created major security holes.

Corporate fear

The corporate fears of participating in these security-sharing forums — which the acronym-loving government is calling Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs) and Information Sharing And Analysis Centers (ISACs) — are many.

First, there is the fear that the government may not adequately protect the sensitive information in these forums. That would make the forums a tempting target for cyberthieves, terrorists, and even the direct competitors who also participating in the forums.

Second, if the information later leaks out (either directly from the forums or from a participant or an unauthorized observer), it could hurt the participants in many ways.

Here’s the Senate language — which is quite similar to the White House’s suggested language — that was crafted to protect participants:

“A civil or criminal action may not be filed or maintained in a Federal or State court against an entity for the voluntary disclosure or receipt under this section of a lawfully obtained cyber threat indicator, that the entity was not otherwise required to disclose.”

In terms of civil liability protection, that’s it. The problem is that it is protecting against a fear almost no one had. The worry was not that Toyota or Walmart would share security data and a leak would cause them to be breached and they would then be sued for sharing that data. No, they would be sued for allowing the security hole to exist in the first place. Meaningful liability protection would shield them from that latter threat.

There is one other liability protection the Senate bill offers. It prohibits a federal entity from using anything disclosed in these forums against the companies in a regulatory enforcement action. But the bill then negates much of that protection by spelling out a key exception: A federal agency can use that information against the company as long as it was obtained elsewhere “through lawful means.”

Given that the data exists on the company’s servers, it wouldn’t be hard for the government to establish it through independent means, now that they know where to look.

One Senate committee aide who was involved in drafting the language, who asked to not be identified by name, said it became clear that “the spectrum of security is a little more nuanced” than typical Senate bills, which means that the Catch-22 of encouraging companies to reveal everything while offering them very little protection is remarkably difficult.

“Even incremental legislation helps,” the Senate aide said. “If this encourages at least some sharing,” he said, it will be better than what is happening today.

Who do you trust?

Whether or not such forums make fundamental sense in terms of protecting the data depends on your perspective. The government’s argument is that the top security minds at the NSA, the FBI, and Homeland Security should do a better job of creating ultra-secure data depositories than the typical hotel chain or laundry detergent manufacturer.

There’s also an issue of competitor trust. Nothing in the bill would punish a member of the group from using security data from a direct rival against them in the marketplace. Not directly, by announcing it, but indirectly, by leveraging the knowledge.

One way to address that concern is by making the information sharing in these forums anonymous. But that may cause other problems. For instance, if the names of the companies involved in an attack are withheld, how would other companies know enough to defend themselves? Part of the value of such a forum is to give a heads-up to other potential victims.

Some attackers might be targeting specific kinds of companies or companies in specific geographies or associated with specific countries. By denying access to information beyond the tactics of the attack, it could make the sharing far less effective as a security device.

Ultimately, it may not be possible to protect companies that choose to share sensitive security information, which means that very few will try. That fact alone may doom this legislative effort far more than an uncooperative Congress controlled by the opposition party.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/15/white-house-proposal-for-sharing-corporate-security-info-seems-full-of-holes/feed/01661901White House proposal for sharing corporate security info seems full of holesWhat was a game guy doing in the White House?http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/05/what-was-a-game-guy-doing-in-the-white-house/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/05/what-was-a-game-guy-doing-in-the-white-house/#respondThu, 05 Feb 2015 17:30:33 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1655834Mark DeLoura tried to find the intersection of games and education.
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LAS VEGAS — Mark DeLoura just spend an amazing 18 months at the White House, where he worked alongside brilliant people, worked crazy hours, and did it all for a government paycheck. What may surprise all of those House of Cards and West Wing fans is that he’s a game developer.

DeLoura was the White House’s expert on video games for 18 months of President Barack Obama’s tenure. In that job, he was the President’s eyes and ears in the game business and a link for game and tech companies to grab the attention of the federal government. DeLoura, who was perhaps the most visible White House gaming expert in years, recently left the job to return to Seattle.

Officially, he was senior advisor for digital media at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, a group of 90 experts who advise the government.

Surprisingly, most off DeLoura’s job wasn’t dealing with the federal government’s concerns with violence in video games — a matter that flared up before DeLoura started. Rather, DeLoura explored the links between making fun games and making education more engaging and interactive.

“We figured out how to do games for entertainment really well,” DeLoura said in a talk at the DICE Summit, the elite game industry event in Las Vegas. “You have to wonder if there is more we can do. Games are an art more. Isn’t there more? The world is a big place.”

“Even in mobile, team sizes are going up. User acquisition is tough. You make a great game. Everybody copies you,” DeLoura said. “It makes me wonder. Are there other things game developers can focus on too?”

To explore the opportunity, DeLoura participated in the Federal Gaming Guild, a group of 70 government people who wanted to get government agencies to use games. That group was created by his predecessor, Constance Steinkuehler.

One example was Budget Hero, a game where the challenge was to balance the $3.7 trillion federal budget. Another one: NASA’s Moonbase Alpha, which challenged players how to keep a base on the moon operational. That game was downloaded more than a million times.

Agencies such as NASA, the Department of Education, the Smithsonian, and others were represented.

“There is this feeling of the promise of games,” DeLoura said. “Games are going to be capable of something amazing.”

He pointed to Fold It, a University of Washington project where a community of volunteer gamers helped solve a protein-folding problem in three weeks, after scientists had failed to solve it for a decade. DeLoura considered that community effort to be an example of “citizen science.”

DeLoura also said that Dragon Box Adaptive was funded with Defense Advanced Research Agency Grant. In that game, University of Washington educators took Dragon Box Algebra, a commercial game by We Want to Know, and adapted it so that it adjusted the difficulty of lessons to how well a person was performing. DeLoura said that 93 percent of the kids who played the game were able to solve three algebraic problems afterward.

Another title is Reach For the Sun, from Filament Games, also funded by a Department of Education grant. It teaches kids about plant biology. Trace Effects, meanwhile, is a State Department-backed game, built by Super Group, that teaches American English language and culture.

DeLoura also highlighted a game by Tracy Fullerton and others at the University of Southern California. The game Walden reproduced life at Walden Pond and was funded by federal grants.

And DeLoura pointed out Minecraft Edu, a project to use Mojang’s (now owned by Microsoft) Minecraft game for education. That project was created by Joel Levin of Teacher Gaming.

As his time at the White House was coming to an end, DeLoura got 100 game developers to hang out at the White House over a weekend and make games for education. The developers made 23 educational games over that weekend.

“What made me feel so good is the developers had so much fun over the weekend,” DeLoura said.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/05/what-was-a-game-guy-doing-in-the-white-house/feed/01655834What was a game guy doing in the White House?President Obama proposes ‘Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights’http://venturebeat.com/2015/01/12/president-obama-proposes-consumer-privacy-bill-of-rights/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/01/12/president-obama-proposes-consumer-privacy-bill-of-rights/#respondMon, 12 Jan 2015 18:06:07 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1640028Today at a Federal Trade Commission event President Barack Obama laid out four new cyber security initiatives, including a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. In his speech he noted that American consumers feel like they no longer have control over their personal information and that needs to be addressed. “We pioneered the Internet, but we also pioneered […]
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Today at a Federal Trade Commission event President Barack Obama laid out four new cyber security initiatives, including a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

In his speech he noted that American consumers feel like they no longer have control over their personal information and that needs to be addressed.

“We pioneered the Internet, but we also pioneered the Bill of Rights,” he said.

National standards

In his remarks President Obama first outlined new legislation that would provide a national standard for banks and retailers on how to handle a data breach. The law would require companies to inform Americans when their information is stolen before fraudulent charges appear on their account. As it stands now, each state has its own set of rules regarding how companies and banks are supposed to respond, which can be difficult for consumers to navigate and often leaves them in the dark. His hope is that a national standard will help consumers be more proactive about protecting their information if they know when it’s at risk.

Free credit scores

President Obama said that the government is encouraging more banks and credit card issuers to start giving free credit reports to Americans, so they can check for fraudulent charges more regularly.

So far the President says that JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and USAA have all agreed to offer consumers credit reports free of charge. He also says the government will be recruiting more banks to join in this effort.

Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights

The third and perhaps most interesting effort (especially for companies like Google and Facebook, whose business models revolve around consumer data) is this new piece of legislation. The proposed Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights will give Americans the right to decide what personal information gets collected and how it gets used. It will also demand that American consumers have the right to have their information stored securely.

The new legislation, which is supposed to be introduced this week, is clearly a response not only to the hacks and breaches from last year, but also a retort to instances where companies have used consumer information in controversial ways (Facebook’s mood experiment comes to mind).

Student Digital Privacy Act

Finally, the President also said he’d be addressing the way companies collect information on children for targeted advertising. While he seem very excited about the educational opportunities that the Internet and technology have enabled for a wide spectrum of children in the U.S., he says there need to be protections in place for students’ personally identifiable information (PII).

The president says 75 companies have agreed not to engage in collecting data on students for targeted advertising. Part of the plan for the Student Digital Privacy Act is to identify companies that engage in this practice, so that parents and students can decide whether they want to avoid these companies if necessary.

These broad efforts are certainly an interesting first step — if Congress votes them into law. Considering the constant conservative bill blocking that’s gone on throughout Obama’s presidency, these ideas might never make it out the gate.

The U.S. now has an “Ebola czar” who will be taking over the White House response to the Ebola outbreak — and the President’s appointee is a hybrid of Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.

Ron Klain (right) was most recently in charge of AOL founder Steve Case’s tech investment firm, Revolution. Revolution specializes in social good and sharing economy businesses, such as transportation startup Zipcar and fitness app RunKeeper. Specifically, he was president of Case’s holding group, Case Holding, and general counsel to Revolution.

“While we are of course sorry to lose Ron for a period of time, we’re very supportive of him taking a leave to serve in this key role,” tweeted Case.

This is not the first time that Obama has nominated someone close to Case and Silicon Valley to take over a crisis. During the Healthcare.gov meltdown, former Revolution Health Group board member Jeffrey Zients was tasked with getting the website back online.

An activist on immigration reform, Case has often had close relationship with politics. Revolution is a rare gem in the tech industry, with headquarters in Washington, D.C.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/17/obamas-new-ebola-czar-comes-from-aol-co-founders-tech-investment-firm/feed/01580665Obama's new Ebola czar comes from AOL co-founder's tech investment firmPartnering with government to tackle big problems: 5 things entrepreneurs need to knowhttp://venturebeat.com/2014/10/11/partnering-with-government-to-tackle-big-problems-5-things-entrepreneurs-need-to-know/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/11/partnering-with-government-to-tackle-big-problems-5-things-entrepreneurs-need-to-know/#respondSun, 12 Oct 2014 00:03:08 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1574639GUEST: When dealing with the government, CEOs too often mistake complexity for dysfunction. And, as a result, investors and technologists are warned-off of addressing public challenges that can yield real impact.
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GUEST:

By now, we all know the paradigmatic story of the Silicon Valley startup thwarted by irrational political opposition or bogged down in bureaucracy. The trials of companies like Tesla and Uber are front-page news: innovative business models stymied by vestigial regulations and political interests established long before these companies came into being.

For the last decade, I’ve partnered with entrepreneurs solving complex social problems. I believe in the transformative potential for innovation to deliver public good — and have seen my share of outmoded or just-plain-indefensible government decisions. But all too often, government is unfairly painted as the villain. CEOs often mistake complexity for dysfunction — and, as a result, investors and technologists are warned-off of addressing public challenges that can yield the greatest impact.

Smart investors like Formation8’s Joe Lonsdale, however, see economic opportunities in “businesses that are creating the most value for society.” In the education context, GSV’s Mike Moe looks for “return on education.” I’d like to encourage more entrepreneurs and investors to consider partnering with the public sector, understand its order, and master the sometimes Byzantine systems that will enable them to make an impact. Here are five recommendations for CEOs considering government challenges — or opportunities:

1. Pay attention to timelines. Entrepreneurs with promising ideas often complain about slow sales cycles and decision making. More often than not, I’ve found that frustration with timelines stems from a lack of experience, and, in turn, an inability to set expectations with anxious board members and investors. Understanding the actual — and often immutable — timelines for government action reduces stress and lets business leaders manage risk and allocate resources. Setting artificial deadlines or threatening price changes may be effective negotiating tactics in the private sector, but they most often backfire with government customers.

It’s important to remember that procurement and rule-making processes, while often outdated, were set up for good reasons. They help to create a more transparent process for taxpayers, prevent cronyism, and ensure that government makes better decisions.

Thoughtful public-private partnerships can lead to long-term investment on both sides and meaningful opportunities to prove outcomes. Remember, slow sales cycles or regulatory processes correlate with big opportunities and can also establish powerful barriers to entry for would-be competitors.

2. Know the boundaries of influence. The mythology of the “fixer” can have a disastrous impact on the success of entrepreneurs working with government. CEOs imagine a political operative or lobbyist wielding influence in the background; if only they could get to that person, processes would be expedited and problems solved. Smart executives often suspend everything they know about decision making when it comes to dealing with government. Perhaps there was a time when more decisions were made in smoke-filled back rooms — but these days, process is power. Substance is influence. Study the role of key influencers and how they fit into the decision-making process.

Public opinion also matters. A well-placed op-ed or social media chatter can change the political calculus for decision makers. Just like good CEOs, policymakers consider the perspectives of those impacted by decisions, and rely on the expertise of staff that know the issues. Focus less on winning over the boss; get to know the real decision makers and address their substantive concerns.

3. Keep it real. Entrepreneurs love hyperbole. Words like disruption and innovation may win over consumers and investors ,but they rarely influence government action. The old adage, “no one ever got fired for hiring IBM” still rings true. Risk-averse staff are suspicious of claims that sound too good to be true (and sometimes are). Use simple, clear language. An objective assessment of potential impact shows policymakers that you’re taking a thoughtful approach and willing to invest in a long-term partnership and aren’t just out to make a quick buck.

4. Don’t take it personally. Government’s seeming irrationality can infuriate entrepreneurs and CEOs. But policy-irrationality often stems from statutory requirements or political realities more than personal preferences of bureaucrats. For better or worse, public sector decision making has to assume the lowest common denominator. Rules are established for businesses that don’t have your integrity. Don’t just ask how a policy or decision would affect you, consider the impact on your least scrupulous competitor.

5. Listen. Entrepreneurs that succeed in solving big, complex challenges won’t do it alone. They will partner with public officials to apply the genius of Silicon Valley to specific challenges and realities of the public sector. Government decision makers are, almost by definition, not going to have deep expertise in emerging technologies or next-generation business models. Let the tenets of design thinking inform your partnership with government. Translate, educate, and tap into their expertise to inform your pitch and product development strategy.

Despite the challenge, more and more entrepreneurs are pioneering tools and solutions every day to help the public sector do its job better, smarter, and faster. As a result, government — at all levels — is adopting new approaches to improve service delivery, from parking meter apps to personalized education or fraud prevention. The challenge is not insignificant, but the economic and social rewards are great. To me, there is no higher calling for an entrepreneur.

Ben Wallerstein is co-founder of Whiteboard Advisors, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs, investors, and nonprofit leaders understand the intersection of policy and innovation.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/11/partnering-with-government-to-tackle-big-problems-5-things-entrepreneurs-need-to-know/feed/01574639Partnering with government to tackle big problems: 5 things entrepreneurs need to knowGovtech Fund raises $23M fund so we can avoid another Healthcare.govhttp://venturebeat.com/2014/09/15/govtech-fund-raises-23m-fund-so-we-can-avoid-another-healthcare-gov/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/15/govtech-fund-raises-23m-fund-so-we-can-avoid-another-healthcare-gov/#respondMon, 15 Sep 2014 14:45:28 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1552468Unlike the rest of our society, government hasn't seen many disruptive startups promising to make things better with the help of new technology.
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Look no further than the Healthcare.gov disaster for proof that our government is in serious need of new and better tech. Unlike the rest of our society, government hasn’t seen many disruptive startups promising to make things better with the help of new technology.

A newly-formed Govtech Fund hopes to change that, and it announced today that it has raised a $23 million fund to back a collection of startups working on government problems and needs. Some of the first startups it will be invested in are SmartProcure, MindMixer, SeamlessDocs, and AmigoCloud.

“We’re proud to support a new generation of venture-backable technology startups that have emerged in the past few years — helping governments become more efficient, more responsive, and better able to serve society. This is just the beginning of a decades-long wave of innovation in government,” said founder and managing partner Ron Bouganim in a statement.

The Govtech fund defines the startups it invests in as companies that “build hardware and software tools that government departments use for daily internal operations and to deliver services to citizens.” These can be tools for project and procurement management, zoning regulation, health care delivery, tax and fee collection, license and permit issuing, water and sewer infrastructure management, and so on.

Although governments have historically awarded contracts to large, established vendors, with little room for small companies and startups to get in there, the White House has been gradually opening its arms to the tech startup world.

Two years ago, it launched the Presidential Innovation Fellows program, which pairs fellows ranging from venture capitalists to all kinds of “geek” types with government agencies in an attempt to leverage the tech industry’s know-how to improve Americans’ lives. Past projects include the Blue Button Initiative, which helps Americans access their healthcare information online in a more secure fashion, and a crowdsourcing platform that allows people to transcribe handwritten documents and records.

Govtech Fund is managed by Ron Bouganim, and Tim O’Reilly sits on the advisory board. Among other organizations, Bouganim has been involved with Code for America, a non-profit organization founded by Jen Pahlka, who previously led the Presidential Innovation Fellows program as well.

Megan Smith, an executive at Google’s mad-scientist lab, Google X, was just appointed Obama’s senior technology advisor and White House Chief Technology Officer. She will be the third person to take up the position since it was created: one of the president’s first acts back in 2009.

The CTO is a new and (very) ambiguous role.

So, what exactly is the CTO?

Obama created this special-appointed advisory role to think about creative ways of using technology to solve national problems. It is distinct from the more bureaucratic role of the White House chief information officer, which is tasked with figuring out how the government should buy equipment and hire employees.

There have been two people who held the position prior to Smith: Aneesh Chopra and Todd Park. Both of Smith’s predecessors managed very different projects.

Since then, this GPS data has been the innovative nugget that spawned many of the essential location services of mobile computing, from driving directions to Yelp.

Aneesh Chopra spent much of his tenure at CTO figuring out the legal framework for open data policy, such as how government agencies should make data public by default. Todd Park made all these policies more concrete, establishing programs to release data in education, health, public safety, and energy.

The CTO is given broad authority to work on just about anything related to technology. As the first CTO, Aneesh Chopra championed crowdfunding for startups, which culminated in the the JOBS Act. Though it has been stymied at the Security Exchange Commission over worries about uneducated investors, eventually the law will allow anyone to invest in a small business.

Park took a long-term view of the CTO and created a fellows program: a select group of young technologists who helped the White House on various tech projects. White House Presidential Innovation Fellows work on everything from a Paypal-like transfer service for foreign payments to improving disaster recovery response.

Can they make the government suck less?

That’s the goal. When the federal health exchange, Healthcare.gov, suffered an epic meltdown and almost took down the president’s signature piece of legislation, Park was tasked with fixing the website.

Whether we like it or not, the government collects data and performs essential services. The military collects location data and the education department collects data on students. The CTO gets these resources as fast as possible into the hands of the public and then integrates any cool innovations back into the government.

How could Smith be different?

This is speculation on my part, but Obama has made “high-performance” management a priority [PDF]. This allows the federal government to act more like a technology company. For instance, instead of hiring an expensive government contractor, the White House could take a page from Netflix and build a product through a prize competition.

Likewise, Google X is really a management philosophy first and a product team second. They look at the craziest optimistic things that could possible be accomplished and then see if a product can be built. If Smith does anything unique in her new role, it may be to bring “moonshot thinking” to the White House.

Color this writer excited to see how Smith makes the federal government more Google-y.

]]>http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/04/what-does-obamas-cto-do-an-explainer-for-googles-megan-smiths-new-job/feed/01544317What does Obama’s CTO Do? This is Google’s Megan Smith’s planWhite House taps Google’s Megan Smith as the country’s new CTOhttp://venturebeat.com/2014/09/04/white-house-taps-googles-megan-smith-as-the-countrys-new-cto/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/04/white-house-taps-googles-megan-smith-as-the-countrys-new-cto/#respondThu, 04 Sep 2014 15:19:02 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1544111The White House has nominated Google executive Megan Smith as the country’s new chief technology officer, making her only the third person to assume the role since it was created. Smith, who has an engineering degree from MIT, has a long history at Google, which includes stints as Google’s director of new business development and […]
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The White House has nominated Google executive Megan Smith as the country’s new chief technology officer, making her only the third person to assume the role since it was created.

Smith, who has an engineering degree from MIT, has a long history at Google, which includes stints as Google’s director of new business development and head of Google.org. She’s currently VP of Google’s experimental lab Google X, which is responsible for projects like Google Glass, Project Loon, and Project Wing, among others. Last week several reports placed Smith as a front runner for the CTO position, which the Washington Post is now confirming today.

Smith will replace outgoing CTO Todd Park, who stepped down from the position to take a new role focused on strengthening ties with the tech industry out of Silicon Valley, as VentureBeat previously reported.

“Smith will guide the administration’s information-technology policy and initiatives, continuing the work of her predecessors to accelerate attainment of the benefits of advanced information and communications technologies across every sector of the economy and aspect of human well-being,” presidential science advisor John Holdren said in a statement.

In addition to Smith, President Barack Obama also nominated Alexander Macgillivray as the country’s new deputy U.S. CTO. According to the Washington Post, prior to this, Macgillivray was the former general council head for Twitter, where he was known for advocating free speech.

Excited to be headed to @whitehouseostp to work w/ @smithmegan & other great folks in govt on technology policy. Lots to learn and do.

If there’s one thing most folks in the tech industry can agree on, it’s that there aren’t nearly enough technology-minded individuals helping to run the government.

The US government’s chief technology officer Todd Park plans to do something about it, which is why Park has decided to step down from his position, VentureBeat can now confirm. The news was initially reported by Fortune.

Confused? Don’t be.

Park is moving on to a new position dedicated to recruiting top tech leaders that may help the federal government push its technology plans to the next level, a source familiar with the situation told VentureBeat. The new position will apparently have Park working from Silicon Valley, which will allow him and his family to return to the West Coast.

The US CTO position was created by President Barack Obama back in 2009 to help foster job growth through technology, maintain a strong cybersecurity strategy, and more. This is undoubtedly a huge role and one that probably should have been put in place a decade ago. If this news proves true, Park’s departure and newly created position may aim to fix that by placing a seasoned team of tech leaders into specific areas that really need guidance.

Park’s background includes founding IT health care startups Athenahealth and Castlight, as well as overseeing the initial rollout of the government’s Healthcare.org as the CTO of the U.S. health and human services department. He took over as the country’s second US CTO back in 2012 after Aneesh Chopra stepped down.

Right now there’s no word on who might replace Park, although Fortune’s sources indicate that potential candidates from LinkedIn, Google, and Twitter. An official announcement from the White House about Park’s departure could come as soon as next week. The White House declined comment to VentureBeat about Park’s departure.